Cloud computing is used to a greater extent in today’s organizations and enables organizations to obtain on-demand network access to IT services. When cloud computing is adopted in an organization, the IT governance becomes more challenging, because organizations need to address business and IT-related processes as well as managing risks and maintaining the relationship with cloud computing vendors. This research aims at finding how cloud computing service model specifically Software as a Service (SaaS) influence IT governance structures, processes and relational mechanisms in a public organization. For this purpose a case study was conducted in a Swedish municipality and the data was collected through interviews with IT managers and from internal documents of municipality and was analyzed using thematic analysis. The results of this study shows that SaaS influences the IT governance structure by improving roles and responsibilities definition and speeds up the decision-making processes. Moreover, the communication with the vendors is more efficient due to the use of SaaS.
IT Outsourcing (ITO) is used widely by Multinational Companies (MNCs) as a sourcing strategy today. ITO relationship between service buyer and provider then becomes a crucial issue in achieving expected objectives. This research sheds light on the influence of organizational culture (OC) of the buyer company on its ITO relationship with the provider. More specifically, the influence that OC can have on four significant dimensions of trust, cooperation, communication and commitment in ITO is studied through a qualitative analysis. IT managers of six MNCs were interviewed which exposed the connection between OC and ITO relationship factors. An open communication culture, speed of adaption to change, receiving innovative solutions, flat or hierarchical structures and responsibility degree appeared as the most visible differences between OCs of MNCs influencing ITO relationships. The results can be used for improving the ITO by considering the influence of OC to gain more benefits from outsourcing.
Globalization has affected the organizations in many aspects such as structure, architecture, internal/external strategies and sourcing management. Outsourcing is one of the recent business strategies used to provide IT needs via external agents. The relationship between the service buyer and provider companies is a constituent playing a significant role in IT outsourcing success or failure. This research has a focus on the influence of organizational culture of buyer companies on the specific factors of trust, cooperation, communication and commitment in their relationship with the IT service provider. Two explorative case studies are done in global companies using ITO which revealed the presence of organizational culture effect. Particularly, being innovative, having open discussion as an organizational culture and looking for extending contracts with providers as a strategy, appeared as the major difference between the two cases organizational culture; which influences the studied factors of ITO relationship in this research.
Today it is not possible for the companies to compete without having IT as a strategic driver. That is why IT governance becomes crucial for managers to bring the most value from IT to the business. Additionally organizational culture is an important factor and often blamed when IT governance projects fail. However little in-depth research investigated how the organizational culture changes can improve the IT governance performance. This research is a case study of the IT department of a large company attempting to improve the IT governance while facing the digitalization challenge. In this case the IT department has an organizational culture change journey seeking to improve the IT governance performance. The results indicate that the initial clan culture orientation of the IT department has led to a successful IT governance performance in cost-effective use of IT. Furthermore, adhocracy is identified as preferred culture for improving IT governance for growth.
Managers face enormous challenges today to plan the decision rights and responsibilities in order to reach desired IT behaviors which are aligned with business objectives of organizations. This is known as IT governance and is ranked as one of the firms' top concerns. Not surprisingly, it is crucial for organizations to find the affecting factors on IT governance and solve the problems associated with it. Culture in national, organizational or group level is an affecting factor in organizations that can play a role in IT governance and this role is rarely explored in academic research. This paper provides a literature review investigating the influence of culture on IT governance. The research purpose is to identify how culture and IT governance in the companies can be linked together and promote this area for future research. The literature review is done systematically and the findings are classified by using an IT governance framework with three main components of structures, processes and relational mechanisms. The results indicate there is an influence from national and organizational culture on IT governance. However, the number of studies is very few and there is still a lack of knowledge on how culture can influence IT governance. This research calls upon a further research on culture impact on achieving an effective IT governance implementation in organizations.
IT governance is crucial for managers to regulate the decision rights and responsibilities that the desired IT behaviors and business objectives are aligned with each other. Additionally, culture in national, organizational or group level can play a role in IT governance and this role is rarely explored in academic research. This paper provides a literature review investigating the impact of culture on IT governance. It is aimed to find the linkage between these two concepts and to promote this area for future research. The literature review was done systematically and the findings are categorized by using an IT governance framework which includes three main components: structures, processes and relational mechanisms. The results indicate there is an influence from national and organizational culture on IT governance, especially on relational mechanisms. However, the number of studies is very few and there is still a lack of knowledge on how culture can influence IT governance.
IT governance is one of the top concerns of organizations today seeking to gain value from their IT investments and create competitive advantage. Organizational culture on the other hand is one of the various factors influencing IT governance performance. However there is not much research conducted to understand this topic deeply. This research thus, is exploring the influence of organizational culture on four IT governance performance outcomes through a case study in IT department of a large Swedish company. The results provide evidence that organizational culture is influencing IT governance performance. Specifically the current clan culture orientation of the IT department has led to a successful IT governance performance in cost-effective use of IT. Furthermore adhocracy as the preferred culture is identified to influence IT governance in effective use of IT for growth which is not so successful with the current clan culture.
Information Technology (IT) is widely used in organizations and managers continue to struggle with how to govern IT. IT governance concerns the decision rights and division of responsibilities to achieve value from IT investments. Any IT governance approach is incorporated into a given organizational structure. However in the particular context of public organizations, there is little research on IT organizational structure relationship with IT governance performance. In this research, a case study is done in a public organization to find out how suitable is the organizational structure of the IT department is in relation with the IT governance performance. The results reveal that the IT department organizational structure needs to suit the IT governance performance desired outcomes. In this case, operating as a public organization has actuated the organization to focus on IT governance outcome of effective use of IT for growth. This together with the IT governance archetypes of this public organization for different IT decisions led the IT department leaders to adopt a matrix organizational structure.
In today's complex organizations, IT governance is an important managerial challenge. IT governance deals with decisions and responsibilities concerning IT. There are many factors influencing IT governance. One factor that has remained relatively unexplored by academic research is that of organizational culture. This research explores the influence of the organizational culture of collaborative networks on IT governance performance. A case study was conducted in a large complex company with several networks. The findings indicated that the networks desire different organizational culture types based on their priorities for IT governance outcomes. A clan organizational culture is desired when aiming for effective use of IT for asset utilization and cost effective use of IT. An adhocracy culture is desired when prioritizing the effective use of IT for business growth. Finally a combination of market and hierarchy organizational culture is desired when seeking effective use of IT for business flexibility and cost cutting.
In today's complex organizations, IT governance is an important managerial challenge. IT governance deals with decisions and responsibilities concerning IT. There are many factors influencing IT governance. One factor that has remained relatively unexplored by academic research is that of organizational culture. This research explores the influence of the organizational culture of collaborative networks on IT governance performance. A case study was conducted in a large complex company with several networks. The findings indicated that the networks fit better with different organizational culture types based on their priorities for IT governance outcomes to maximize performance. A clan organizational culture is desired when aiming for effective use of IT for asset utilization and cost-effective use of IT. An adhocracy culture fits better when prioritizing the effective use of IT for business growth. Finally, a combination of market and hierarchy organizational culture is desired and fits better when seeking effective use of IT for business flexibility and cost cutting.
Information technology governance (ITG) is one of the top challenges of managers today and culture in different level can have an important role while implementing IT governance. This is a new and significant issue, which has not been investigated deeply. This paper sets out to provide a systematic review of the literature, focusing on the role of culture in IT governance. The literature review findings are categorized through the lens of IT governance’s five focus areas which are IT strategic alignment, IT value delivery, Risk management, IT resource management and Performance measurement. This study contributes to the field of IT governance by reviewing and discussing the existing literature on the role of culture on IT governance. This literature review resulted that there are few research studies in this topic and many of the IT governance focus areas are not covered regarding the role of culture in these IT governance areas.
Information technology governance (ITG) is one of the top challenges of managers today and culture in different level can have an important role while implementing IT governance. This is a new and significant issue, which has not been investigated deeply. This paper sets out to provide a systematic review of the literature, focusing on the role of culture in IT governance. The literature review findings are categorized through the lens of IT governance's five focus areas which are IT strategic alignment, IT value delivery, Risk management, IT resource management and Performance measurement. This study contributes to the field of IT governance by reviewing and discussing the existing literature on the role of culture on IT governance. This literature review resulted that there are few research studies in this topic and many of the IT governance focus areas are not covered regarding the role of culture in these IT governance areas.
A Digital Transformation fundamentally involves the implementation of one or more digital tools, which is a process often burdened with challenges. It is estimated that approximately 66 to 84 percent of the taken Digital Transformation initiatives are unsuccessful, which can be attributed to organizational shortcomings, more specifically structural ones. While public organizations regularly do not achieve the same success as those in the private sector, it was of interest to investigate the Swedish ones. Where 86 percent of residents use the internet to interact with public authorities. Previous research has singled out the IT organization to be the appointed leader of Digital Transformations, further research on that relationship is limited. Therefore, this study examines how the IT organization, in an agile environment, can align its structure for a successful Digital Transformation. To answer the discovered research problem, the following research question has been formulated: “How should an IT organization’s structure be aligned in an agile environment in order to achieve a successful Digital Transformation?”. This is research in progress and will be continued by conducting case studies in four public organizations. Data will be collected through semi0structured interviews and analyzed thematically. Finally, a presentation of different aspect of organizational structure alignment through digital transformation based on these cases will be provided.
Digital transformation has been an interesting concept from the organizational perspective for a long time. The benefits of a successful digital transformation can take your organization into the next step by providing an increased organizational growth, aid market reachability by penetrating new and exciting markets, or enable your business operations to function to a greater extent than before with higher efficiency and lower lead times. Digital transformation is however a complex and diverse concept that means to integrate new innovations by using digital technology into the organization with the need of making greater organizational changes to succeed. This research, has explored how different organizational aspects like structural, technological and cultural ones can impact the success of a digital transformation during an ERP system change. A case study has been conducted in a company to identify how the current structural, technological, and cultural aspects influence the current digital transformation in that the company. The data was collected through interviews with employees having managerial roles and from internal documents of company and was analyzed using thematic analysis. The results show an agile approach, a more decentralized structure and high readiness for change, along with a transparent communication between management and co-workers to be beneficial for a successfully digital transformation.
The strategic and innovative deployment and use of information and communication technologies (ICT) is important to development and the attainment of the millennium development goals (MDGs). Previous studies have suggested that ICT-based trade facilitation promotes development through better integration into global markets. Through an interpretive case study, this chapter explores an ICTbased initiative to connect members of the trading community in Ghana on an electronic data interchange (EDI) platform. More specifi cally, it explored the contributions of the initiative to effi cient trade facilitation and discusses the broader mplications for achieving the MDGs in Ghana. The research confi rms that the initiative has improved operational effi ciency at Ghana’s ports and borders. Furthermore, it has enabled effi cient and reliable collection of duties and taxes. The findings reinforce the view that government support and private sector expertise and funding are important factors in ICT-based e-government solutions in developing countries. The chapter contends that ICT-based trade facilitation can make a significant contribution to the attainment of the MDGs in Ghana.
The strategic importance of information technology (IT) in today's organizations and dependence on IT to support e-government strategies has increased the interest in IT Governance (ITG) in public sector organizations. From this perspective, this paper examines ITG practices in a public organization in Ghana (that has a responsibility to mobilize revenue for national development) in order to gain an insight into IT governance structures, processes and relational mechanisms and understand how this contributes to adding value through IT. The findings have revealed that this public organization has a centralized approach to IT governance, with inadequate board involvement concerning how IT investments can bring value and improve organizational performance. Furthermore, there are no IT steering and strategy committees to oversee IT governance as best practice requires.
In the information age, no organization can thrive without harnessing the power of IT. The effective deployment of IT to achieve business goals and gain competitive advantage requires the alignment of business and IT strategies of organizations. Using the Strategic Alignment Maturity model, this paper evaluates strategic alignment maturity of Customs Excise Preventive service, a frontline public organization charged with trade facilitation in Ghana. Strategic alignment maturity is at level 3; which implies the existence of an established process to leverage IT for efficiency and effectiveness. Efforts are required to strengthen alignment and fully harness the potential of IT to facilitate trade in Ghana.
The application of Information Technology Governance (ITG) was motivated by the private sector in the 90s, as a way to achieve excellence, provide new services, and increase profitability of IT investments. Therefore the organizations from the public sector has shortly followed those from the private sector realizing the benefits of having an effective ITG implementation that could better serve the implementation of IT plans, projects and programs in their organizations. Reviewing the research literature in this field, we have found a shortage of studies regarding ITG implementation into the public sector organizations in developing countries. Research has been conducted mainly in organizations from the private sector and specifically in the developed countries and very few in the public sector organizations in developing countries. Therefore this research has focused on the application of ITG in a public organization particularly in a governmental organization in a developing country by analysing ITG practices in place. The research method used in this study was interpretive case study and the data collection was done through interviews as primary data together including secondary data collected from progress reports, policies and procedure reports of the governmental organization. The results of this research concluded, that there was an unintentional implementation of ITG in the studied governmental organization and that there is a need to improve the ITG structures, processes and relational mechanisms that will promote accountability of the IT projects and contribute to an effective ITG implementation in this organization.
There are still many organizations that face difficulties in achieving business/IT alignment. Prior research has focused on the positive impact of alignment on overall business performance, while the barriers in achieving business/IT alignment were largely unexplored, especially in regards to the social dimension that refers to the people involved in alignment. Therefore this research is focusing on identifying and investigating the barriers that inhibit achieving social dimension of business/IT alignment in large organizations. A case study is conducted in one of the largest Swedish companies. The data is collected through seven semi-structured interviews, field-notes and the use of company's documents that were thematically analyzed. The research presents a unique case of 19 business/IT alignment barriers of social dimension that have been limited so far and which contribute to the business/IT alignment field. The main findings showed that low understanding of counterpart's environment; poor communication; unclear specifications; limited cooperation and lack of mutual commitment and support inhibits the achievement of alignment between business and IT domains on the social dimension. The results could support the researchers to further elaborate frameworks on how to mitigate social barriers in order to achieve a better business/IT alignment. Besides, the discussed barriers can be of practical use for other organizations trying to achieve business/IT alignment with a focus on the social dimension.
Decisions for IT outsourcing are very complex and needs to be supported by considerations based on many (multiple) criteria. In order to facilitate the use of a specific tool by a decision-maker in IT outsourcing, we need to find out whether such a tool for this purpose will be accepted or rejected or what improvements must be added to this tool to be accepted by some IT decision makers in large companies from Sweden.
Digitization is already changing Europe and the whole world. Whether or not we can leverage its opportunities to foster prosperity, human well-being, and sustainability depends on the strategic decisions taken today. Will the countries work together to embrace these opportunities, or will they let this chance pass? Overcoming historical divides and acting solidarity united in a prosperous Europe is the only way. As digital frontrunners, the IS researchers have a key role to play and the responsibility to act as an engine to make the digital transition happen at a sufficiently fast pace for Europe to remain competitive in a rapidly digitizing world. Digitization in united societies is about bringing people together, having a better life and a bright future. Together we can build societies collectively inclusive, innovative, and able to adapt to the massive societal challenges of the 21st century. ECIS 2022 will bring together information systems (IS) researchers in East and West, being only the second time in Eastern Europe after Gdańsk, Poland, in 2002. ECIS in Timișoara will provide a unique opportunity to unite IS researchers in Europe, making it an inclusive conference that allows all academics from AIS Region 2 to participate. We believe that the participants will find the conference fee really likeable and we promise to deliver good value for the money. Timișoara’s aim is to connect and ultimately digitally unite academics and societies.
A company has to operate with flexibility and cost-efficiency due to the continuously competitive business environment. Nowadays, cloud computing (CC) plays an essential part in flexibility and cost-efficiency of IT infrastructure. Companies using CC have to know how different types of contracts and their terms, modes of relationships, contract quality, and relationship management influence their CC activities. This article discusses how to build successful relationships in CC. The field of this study is CC from a service buyer perspective. The applied research strategy was survey research and the data was collected through interviews with IT managers in different medium-sized companies in Sweden. To identify and analyse the influencing factors of relationships in CC this research has used Transaction Cost Theory. The findings of this research are the identified influential factors to improve a cloud computing relationship like asset specificity, fee-for-service contracts, contract length, provider/buyer organisation sizes and the number of providers including guidelines for decision makers to strengthen this CC relationship.
Business-IT alignment (BITA) has gained attention during the past few years. As a result, a number of theoretical models that can be applied as supportive tools for assessing different components of BITA have been developed. However, most of these efforts have been produced either in Anglo-Saxon Countries or rooted in the experiences gained from these countries. Consequently, they ignore the factor that is subjected to change due to difference in cultural contexts. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of organizational culture on achieving BITA and influences its maturity. The research method and process that was followed, namely an in-depth literature survey followed by an empirical study of 51 Swedish multinational organizations.
Many business-IT alignment (BITA) models have been designed to support organizations in achieving, assessing and maintaining alignment between business and IT. These models focus on different components and emphasize different perspectives. This makes it difficult for practitioners to choose appropriate BITA models given organization at-hand. In this paper, an evaluation framework supporting practitioners to choose appropriate BITA models is presented. The framework was designed following design science as main research approach. The design process was based on literature and empirical studies. The literature study contributed in constructing a tentative version of the framework which was refined through an empirical study in 6 organizations. The final framework consists of 25 criteria categorized into four groups, and was demonstrated on six major BITA models showing its feasibility. Finally, the framework was evaluated by interviewing two business consultants and three CIOs from large-sized Swedish companies. The evaluation shows the framework having a complete set of criteria, but its usability and efficiency could be increased.
Importance of BITA has increased over the past few years. However, achieving and maturing BITA still has apparent difficulties. Therefore, research efforts resulted in a number of theoretical models that can be applied as supportive tools for assessing different components of BITA. Most of these efforts have been produced either in Anglo-Saxon Countries or based on their experiences. The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of organizational culture on maturity of BITA. The paper relies on the nine dimensions of Project GLOBE to understand societal as well as organizational culture. It also relies on the bottom-up comprehensive approach of Luftman's Strategic Alignment Maturity Model to understand organization's alignment components. To fulfill the purpose of this study, a comparative analysis has been carried out between two subsidiaries of a multinational organization with a federal organizational structure that operate in Egypt and Sweden. The results shows: a) a potential difference in how different components of BITA are interpreted and implemented in different organizational culture, and b) that the impact of organizational culture on BITA maturity is more complex than what is expected especially on variables that require social interactions.
Researchers and practitioners have argued on the importance of business-IT alignment (BITA) for organizations to maximize the business value of IT. As a result, a vast number of BITA models have been designed to support organizations in achieving, assessing and maintaining BITA. These models focus on different components (i.e. concepts/aspects of alignment) and emphasize different perspectives of the alignment (i.e. how alignment is perceived by practitioners). This makes it difficult for practitioners to choose an appropriate BITA model for a specific organization. In this paper, an evaluation framework to support practitioners in choosing appropriate BITA models is proposed. The framework was constructed following design science as a research approach. The design science activities were carried out in an iterative manner until reaching a final artefact. The process started with an extensive literature survey that led to designing a tentative model. Following that, different empirical iterations contributed to the framework development. The final framework consists of 25 criteria categorized into four groups. It was tested on six major BITA models, demonstrating its feasibility. Finally, the framework was evaluated by interviewing five business consultants and seven IT managers from large Swedish organizations. The evaluation shows that the framework has a complete set of criteria with a sufficient level of coherence, but its usability and efficiency is argued differently. The framework, additionally, is argued to potentially be used as a collaborative learning tool on requirement of BITA between practitioners from both business and IT domain or serve in the academic world.
The analyses of literature on business-IT alignment (BITA) and Organisational Culture (OC) domains of prac-tice revealed needs for combined studies as the impact of each domain on the other is not well studied in re-search. The purpose of this study is to develop and validate a set of relationships between components of BITA and OC towards development of a BITA-Culture integrated view. For achieving this purpose, we adopted a multi-stage (based on mixed-method) approach starting by an extensive literature review on both BITA and OC for constructing hypotheses on correlations between their components. Following that, an empirical research was conducted in three case organisations for empirical investigation of relationships and for refining the hy-potheses. To test the research hypotheses an extended quantitative test was performed by a survey on 117 busi-ness and IT practitioners. The results were the bases for developing the BITA-Culture integrated view. This integrated view is aimed to support both practitioners in order to understand the insights of the relationships between BITA and OC components and provide a road-map for improvements or desired changes in OC with highlighted target business areas.
Organizational culture continues to be cited as one of the most important factors for organizations’ success in an increasingly competitive and IT-driven global environment. Given the fact that organizational culture has an influence all over the organization, the complexity of its nature is increased when considering the relationship between business and IT. As a result, different factors that have influence on changing organizational culture were highlighted in literature. These factors are found in the research literature distributed in three main group; micro-environment factors, macro-environment factors and leader’s impact. One of the factors that have not been yet well investigated in researches is concerning business-IT alignment (BITA. Therefore the purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of BITA maturity on organizational culture. The research process that we have followed is a literature survey followed by an in-depth case study. The result of this research shows a clear interrelation in theories of both BITA and organizational culture, and clear indications of BITA impact on organizational culture and its change. The findings may support both practitioners and researchers in order to understand the insights of the relationships between BITA and organizational culture components and provide a roadmap for improvements or desired changes in organizational culture with highlighted target business area.
In research, many barriers to BITA are presented based on different theoretical frameworks. However, these barriers are studied either from a pure theoretical perspective or with limited empirical scope. This consequently hinders the achievement of BITA in organizations. In this paper the practitioners view of barriers to BITA are investigated aiming at producing a list of barriers which practitioners can use as a ground for better achievement of BITA. The list of barriers was identified by conducting two in-depth case studies on multinational organizations acting in Sweden along with two focused group discussions of researchers, and followed by a survey on 74 large and medium sized organizations on the Swedish market. The result of this study is a list of 45 barriers to BITA from the perspectives of business and IT practitioners.
In research, many barriers to BITA are presented based on different theoretical frameworks. However, these barriers are studied either from a pure theoretical perspective or with limited empirical scope. This consequently hinders the achievement of BITA in organizations. In this article the practitioners view of barriers to BITA are investigated aiming at producing a list of barriers which practitioners can use as a ground for better achievement of BITA. The list of barriers was identified by conducting three in-depth case studies on multinational organizations acting in Sweden along with two focused group discussions of researchers, and followed by a survey on 74 large and medium sized organizations on the Swedish market. The result of this study is a list of 45 barriers to BITA from the perspectives of business and IT practitioners.
The purpose of this book is to examine how modern techniques influence IT project management and their role in managing successfully IT projects. The book includes research studies that are examining important fields of IT project management like: agile project management, IT project alignment, strategic software project governance, risk in global IT projects, distributed IS development projects to mention only a few of them. The target audiences of this book are researchers and professionals working in the fields of project management, information systems, and IT project management.
For more than a decade Business-IT alignment (BITA) has been constantly ranked among the top-ten management issues for IT leaders. Many organizations value the advantages obtained when they are able to align their business and IT strategies. Although considerable models and frameworks have been developed to support organizations in their quest of achieving and sustaining BITA, still many of them face challenges because of some influential factors. While factors influencing BITA in organizations have been widely studied, the barriers in achieving BITA in the banking sector of a developing country remain largely unexplored. In this study we aim at exploring the factors that hinder BITA in the banking sector of a developing country. A case study research was conducted in four commercial banks in Burkina Faso with branches in more than ten other African countries. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews and also from internal documents and has been thematically analyzed. The main findings in this study shows that the delay in task execution, the lack of time to acquire new knowledge, the insufficiency of cross-sectional trainings, the dependency on telecom operators, the heavy workload of banking staff and the reluctance to hire more personnel considerably hinder BITA within the banks in Burkina Faso as a developing country. The results contribute to research in BITA and the limited knowledge about the factors hindering BITA in the banking sector of a developing country. Moreover the results of this research can help IT and business practitioners to further elaborate organizational skills training programs necessary for banks to improve their personnel's performance throughout their journey towards BITA.
Several predictions show an increase in Cloud Computing (CC) in the coming years. The risks in CC relationships can jeopardize the CC services; therefore, this research has looked to find the risk factors in CC relationships in public organizations in Sweden. A survey research strategy has been applied and the data was collected through interviews with IT decision-makers with relevant experience in CC relationships. The study has identified security as a critical risk factor. The CC clients do not trust their providers and therefore, they do not place sensitive data in the cloud. Additionally, we have found other risks in CC that are not critical, like, asset specificity, a small number of suppliers, uncertainty, relatedness, measurement problems, competences. The reason for this result is the low complexity of services in the studied public organizations. The findings of this study are several risk factors that public organizations should be aware of for improving their relationship in CC arrangements.
There is an extensive scientific research on the disadvantages of losing competencies in IT Outsourcing (ITO). In this study we have looked exclusively at “tacit” knowledge (knowledge that is hard to transfer to another person practically or in writing) and a analyzed the skill lose in ITO in a medium-sized, governmental agency in Sweden. The tacit knowledge of the primary processes and how the information systems are used in the organization, are considered to have significant value for ITO decisions. The research problem is the lack of knowledge about how loss of tacit knowledge influences ITO. To address the problem a case study research has been used as research method and the data was collected through interviews with decision makers in a Swedish governmental agency in the process of outsourcing their IT. The study has found a few justifications for keeping tacit knowledge of secondary processes in-house, only in organizations with a high uncertainty. In fact, for highly specified primary processes, it is of advantage to keep tacit knowledge in-house. Otherwise, the focus should be on standardization and the use of best practices. The results of this research could provide guidelines to IT managers of other governmental agencies in Sweden that are having a similar organization size.
In this chapter, the Success Factors (SFs) for IT Outsourcing (ITO) are explored. The research literature has a bias towards large companies, neglecting medium-sized companies. Moreover, no comparative studies regarding the SFs were found related to the size of companies. These circumstances force medium-sized buyers to turn to practitioner literature, which is dominated by guidelines produced by the providers. Therefore, this chapter identifies the research problem: the lack of knowledge about ITO SFs for medium size companies, including whether SFs for large companies, are applicable for medium-sized ones as well. The used case study research shows that medium-sized companies should use the SFs from large companies. However, 2 out of 11 studied SFs have better efficiency for large companies. This result helps medium-sized companies' ITO decision makers understand the SFs of ITO and thus closes the research gap. Implementing the right SFs should improve the ITO performance.
Cloud Computing (CC) is an increasingly alternative for IT Outsourcing (ITO). There is a consensus that a good ITO relationship between the service buyer and provider is a prerequisite for the success of an ITO. However, there is a lack of studies concerning the relationships between large companies owned by public organizations and CC-providers in Sweden. Consequently, there is a lack of knowledge about the risks that could jeopardize relationships between companies owned by public organizations and their CC providers. Thus, this study seeks to answer the research question: “What are the risk factors to consider for building and maintaining a successful relationship between CC-providers and companies owned by public organizations in Sweden from a buyer's perspective?”. The study has identified seven most critical risk factors that should be considered to keep or build a well-working relationship between CC parties. These factors are contracts, the client's degree of expertise in IT operations, measurement problems, the Swedish Public Procurement Act, provider challenges, relatedness, and ex-ante imperfection. The findings of this study can be used by large public organizations in Sweden who plan to use or who are using CC in order to mitigate the risks in CC relationships.
In this paper the Risk Factors (RFs) in IT Outsourcing (ITO) theories from a service buyer perspective are explored. A comparative study about how Transaction Cost Theory (TCT), Core Competency Theory (CCT) and Agency Theory (AT) cover the RFs has been performed. A framework describing, how the theories cover the RFs has been developed and tested using a case study research methodology. The interviews with companies for testing the framework have been used to get an indication about which ITO theories the decision makers are using in their ITO. This study shows that TCT fully covers all RFs, AT covers almost all and CCT has the lowest coverage. The theories, which are used by the ITO decision makers, could only partially be answered. Risk handling could not be entirely mapped to the theories. Risk and risk mitigation were the main concerns for some of the interviewees, CCT for some others. This study recommends using both TCT and CCT for a successful ITO.
This paper explores which factors contribute to a strong, IT Outsourcing (ITO) relationship. Therefore, a conceptual model has been developed and tested in four Major National Companies (MNCs), who have outsourced their IT and additionally, their IT service providers have been studied. All the involved contracts have multibillion SEK (the Swedish currency krona) turnovers and belong to top 100 larges MNCs in Sweden. A case study research method has been used. The novelty in the model is to have contract management and expectation management as the most important factors that influence a good ITO relationship strongly supported by communication and conflict and conflict resolution. Trust, commitment, and cooperation received lower scores. We believe that this information could help IT decision makers to improve their relationship with the service buyer or a provider. This research supports the propositions that an effective relationship improves the contract management and strengthens the ITO success.
The decision process for companies to outsource information technology (IT) or not is a substantial business change and in many cases the competence to take such decisions is limited and has major consequences for the company future performance. Therefore in the paper we have proposed the development of a software application that can be used in the initial phase for deciding to outsource or not in contrast to the external help with consultants that might have their own interests. In fact the development of a software decision tool (SDT) that is business neutral it could be very usefully for the IT managers in support of the decisions regarding to outsource IT or not. By using this SDT the IT mangers could highlight also some potential risks that have might be hidden by their cost-savings efforts regarding IT outsourcing. On the other hand by using the SDT the IT managers can simulate different situations by changing the parameters and very important can document their decisions regarding outsourcing with more confidence. Additionally, this software tool it might require information that the own evaluation did not considered in the beginning and finally may add vital information to advice the IT managers in different situations. In the development of the SDT in taking the IT outsourcing decisions we have used the generic Transaction Cost Theory (TCE) for evaluation that is adapted to the IT risks according to Aubert et al. (2001) and which gives a qualitative measure of the outsourcing risks. In this context our paper has looked mainly to find answers to the following research questions: (1) is it possible to design such a tool and which decision parameters should be collected, how are those inter-related and how should such a decision tree be built up (2) is it possible to reduce all initially known uncertainties regarding outsourcing and highlight on potential risks? (3) How much trust we could have in such a software tool in order to be really used by the IT managers in decisions regarding IT outsourcing?
The increasing competition on the market means that multinational companies (MNCs) as well as many otherorganizations must take advantage of business improvements. This research addresses the critical success factors(CSFs) for the service receiver of IT outsourcing (ITO). It delivers a limited number CSFs that, with a correctimplementation, can deliver favorable results that are necessary for an efficient ITO. These 11 CSFs, are describedin detail, and a critical study is performed to identify the value they could create. In addition, the way theimplementation of the provided CSF could mitigate the ITO risk has been analyzed using transaction cost theory. Apriority list describing the order in which the CSFs should be implemented has been developed and enhanced with arecommendation as to when in the ITO life cycle each CSF should be implemented. A case study research with twoMNCs with more than 20 years’ experience in ITO has been used to prove the results.
This book addresses the buying organizations' perspective on risks, relationships and success factors for accomplishing a successful IT Outsourcing (ITO). Today’s landscape in ITO is complex and these perspectives are important in ITO and therefore there is still a need for it to be further explored. Furthermore the studies concerned the risks, relationships and success factors in ITO need to be extended in more large companies from different countries to better understand how we could improve the ITO in these companies. In order to address this issue the authors of this book have performed different studies that span about 10 years concerning the risks, relationships and success factors in ITO in large companies in Sweden. The authors have focused on both theoretical and practical aspects concerning risks, relationships and success factors in ITO and they have used transaction cost theory, agency theory and core competency theory as main theories to support their research. The data concerning this study has been collected at two different times during the last 10 years with about five years' difference between them. In this way the performed research has enabled a comparison of the data collected on two different periods in time including of the related changes. The book will help researchers in ITO as well as practitioners like ITO decision makers in large companies to understand how to mitigate the ITO risks, improve their ITO relationships and identify the ITO success factors.
Information Technology Outsourcing (ITO) is well spread among large Multinational Companies (MNCs) in Europe, and it is expected to increase even more. The authors’ focus is the service buyer company who needs a well working relation with its ITO supplier for handling emergent issues, daily operation and events that have not been foreseen. In the last years, an increasing attention has been paid to improve ITO relationship. Reviewing the research literature, they have not found any studies about Influential Factors (IFs) that could improve the ITO relationship, nor, how risk factors are interrelated to ITO relationship. Therefore, the authors address this issue by providing 15 IFs that could improve the ITO relationship for large MNCs and their providers and could help the service buyers companies’ to concentrate on these IFs. Additionally, the authors developed a framework that could support the ITO decision makers in both mitigating the risks and improving the ITO relationship.
Relationship management in IT Outsourcing (ITO) is widely accepted as a prerequisite for a successful ITO. However, there is still a need for understanding the important factors that contribute to a successful ITO relationship in large companies in Sweden. Therefore, this study wants to address this knowledge gap. The studied companies are the largest ones regarding turnover in Sweden and are present in the “Large Cap” segment at Nasdaq Stockholm Exchange. The results of this research are compared with a previous study done in 2012 in large companies in Sweden. The findings show that the most important factors (from a buyer’s perspective) for a successful ITO relationship are communication; conflict and conflict resolution; trust; commitment; cooperation; and internal competence. The identified relational factors in this study contribute to ITO research and can help ITO decision-makers in large companies to have successful ITO relationships and improve their ITO.
Business-IT Alignment (BITA) is still one of the top management concerns in many organizations due to its strategic benefits. Researchers have highlighted the importance of understanding the significance of BITA in improving organizational performance and gaining competitive advantage. BITA is a dynamic process, and organizations need to adjust it continuously. Moreover, there is still a need for new knowledge on the barriers in BITA in different organizations, like e.g., those from developing countries where were done a few research studies. Therefore, this research has focused on organizations from the banking sectors of The Gambia to identify the barriers in BITA. The research strategy used was survey research and the data was collected through semi-structured interviews combine with internal documents of the studied organizations and analyzed using thematic analysis. The study has identified in total 26 barriers in BITA from which eight are new barriers in BITA in the banking sector organizations of The Gambia. The results of the study contribute to BITA research and can help business and IT managers in attaining and sustaining business-IT alignment and improving their organizational performance.